Live eLearning Environment Facilitates Showcasing of Proposed Virtual Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida., (February 6, 2006) — Elluminate, Inc., a leading provider of live eLearning and Web collaboration solutions for the real-time organization, announced today that its sponsorship enabled Dragonfly Blue Productions Inc. to showcase the Dialogue Between Nations project at the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held November 15-19 in Tunis. At the Summit, hundreds of attendees experienced Elluminate Live! as an example of how eLearning technology can be used to capture knowledge and facilitate global dialogue. The collaboration between Elluminate, Inc. and Dragonfly Blue Productions Inc. effectively demonstrates the vital role of the private sector in the implementation of the WSIS process and outcomes.

Dragonfly Blue Productions Inc., a Canadian diversified media company that provides Internet broadcasting and educational resources for online learning, and CEO/director Natalie Drache have collaborated to produce Dialogue Between Nations. This global communications project is evolving into an open learning community to complement the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The company presented the project at the WSIS, where almost 20,000 delegates from 174 countries met to tackle the problem of the digital divide and harness the potential of information and communication technologies to drive social and economic development. Elluminate Live! was used throughout the event, at one point linking a visiting WSIS delegate, a chief from a small village in Cameroon, in dialogue with participants in Tunis and Vancouver, Canada during a keynote presentation by Dr. Mohamed Ally, director and associate professor, School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University.

"Through our media work behind the scenes at various UN mega-conferences, we realized the importance of the Indigenous voice in the international arena" explained Natalie Drache, producer of Dialogue Between Nations. "We want to share our resources to create broader visibility for Indigenous experts in rural and urban communities, and an online distributed learning environment seems to be one way to do this. An initial demonstration of Elluminate Live! evolved into a company sponsorship of our Dialogue Between Nations events at the WSIS."

Within the unique setting of Dragonfly Blue Productions' nomadic Berber tent in the exhibition area, both Dr. Ally and Ula Shirt, an instructor with the Sunchild E-Learning Community in Alberta, Canada, provided Elluminate Live! training sessions for visitors from many sectors, including Canadian First Nations School Net delegates and Tunisian computing science students. They also facilitated demonstrations with Dragonfly Blue Productions' special guest and panelist Lix Lopez, a Mayan adult educator who networked with Latin American participants from the International Indigenous Steering Committee and Indigenous caucus members present at the WSIS. The Tunisian students were able to provide additional technical support for Elluminate Live! users as well as introduce the project to WSIS participants in French and Arabic.

"I think Elluminate Live! has a lot of potential in this area," Drache added. "It has plenary capacity, supports multiple language communication, provides a whiteboard and breakout rooms, and enables us to share pre-recorded content from our archives. While Elluminate Live! can support developing nations in their grassroots efforts to connect people in rural areas, it can also host high-level, multi-sector dialogue between Indigenous experts, members of governments, and UN agencies. The participation of Elluminate at the WSIS was very important, and I hope we can continue to explore further opportunities to use Elluminate Live! to facilitate the development of a proposed Virtual Permanent Forum."

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues member, Mr. Hassan Id Balkassm (Morocco) participated in a session with Mirian Masaquiza from the Permanent Forum Secretariat. Ms. Masaquiza officially announced the Secretariat's interest in a feasibility study for a Virtual Permanent Forum, as proposed by Dragonfly Blue Productions, Inc. Mr. William Ralph Joey Langevelt (South Africa), also a Permanent Forum member, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time, was able to dialogue with Mr. Hassan Id Balkassm online in Elluminate Live! with the support of a moderator from the Dragonfly Blue team in Vancouver.

"Elluminate was proud to sponsor the launch of Dialogue Between Nations' interactive connectivity agenda at the UN Summit, enabling attendees to experience how a live eLearning environment can facilitate communication on a global level," said Nashir Samanani, president, CEO and founder of Elluminate. "Elluminate Live! was developed to provide access to remote users who otherwise would be deprived, including those in developing nations. This use of our technology is in keeping with Elluminate's corporate philosophy of exercising social responsibility by facilitating access to learning and the sharing of knowledge and ideas for those that otherwise would not have such access."

About Dialogue Between Nations
An interactive global communications network and educational forum developed by producer Natalie Drache and Dragonfly Blue Productions Inc., Dialogue Between Nations contributes through global dialogue toward the solution of current issues directly affecting the identity, self-determination, and presence of Indigenous Peoples in the modern world, enabling them to equally participate in local, national, and international decision making. Filming of the Indigenous presence in the global community began in 1991, and the work has now evolved into a unique asset, an archive of material with potential for creating collaborative partnerships for action and dignity. For more information, visit www.DialogueBetweenNations.com and http://www.dialoguebetweennations.com/lifelonglearning/english/VirtualPF.html.

About Elluminate, Inc. Elluminate, Inc. provides proven, award-winning solutions for real-time online learning and collaboration that enhance the learning experience, increase retention and completion rates, and remove traditional barriers to knowledge. Delivering best-in-class performance, Elluminate features high-quality VoIP, robust interactive functionality for participants and moderators, and unique No User Left Behind™ technology regardless of platform or Internet connection speed. Elluminate delivers exceptional outcomes with lower Total Cost of Ownership and higher ROI. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Elluminate is the trusted choice of prominent corporate and academic organizations such as ADP, DeVry University, Georgia State University, Johns Hopkins University, PA Department of Education, Sun Microsystems, T-Mobile, and many more.


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